“It’s a good situation, where the coaches like him, the GM likes him and he’s got an opportunity in the next couple years to prove he can be a dominant player in this league and then you get rewarded if you succeed.”

Johansson, Backstrom and Ovechkin have previous experience playing together.

They were united in the latter half of last season and the results were as impressive as they were instant.

Johansson scored six goals and 22 points in 34 games, although 19 of those points came after March 16 with Ovechkin and Backstrom.